The Macau Sports Bureau (ID) confirmed last night that from this year the Macau Grand Prix (MGP) will feature the Formula Regional (FR) World Cup in lieu of the Formula 3 (F3) races, held here since 1983.
The confirmation came a day after the Paris-based Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) had announced the change.
The bureau said in a statement that “in order to comply with the development direction of the FIA, the FIA will change the car models used by Formula 3 in Macau this year, and the relevant car models will be more suitable for racing at the Guia Circuit.”
The ID statement also said that after analysis by the FIA, the local event will be named the FIA Formula Regional World Cup starting this year.
The statement said that Macau would continue to be the only global organiser of the FIA Formula Regional World Cup event, “which will attract top drivers from all of the world to Macau to compete.”
The bureau also confirmed that the 71st Macau Grand Prix will take place from November 14-17 this year.
The bureau also said that details about the participating drivers and cars will be announced in conjunction with the FIA in due course, adding that it remained committed to presenting a world-class racing event to residents and visitors alike.
Wednesday’s FIA statement quoted François Sicard, the federation’s single-seater strategy & operations director, as saying that “bringing Formula Regional cars to Macau for the FIA World Cup is a natural consequence of the junior single-seater landscape over the last couple of years and is a logical step in the pyramid.”
The FIA statement also said that “from this year onwards, the FIA’s single-seater competition held as part of the event [MGP] will be reserved for Formula Regional cars, making the event even more accessible than ever, opening up to a broad pool of potential drivers competing at regional level.”
The statement also underlined that “launched in 2018, Formula Regional bridges the gap between various national Formula 4 series and the global FIA Formula 3 Championship, which is held on the support bill of selected Formula 1 grands prix.” It also noted that there are currently five different FIA-certified Formula Regional series being held around the world (Americas, European, Japanese, Middle East, and Oceania), and there are around 92 FR drivers racing worldwide in 2024”.
According to the Feeder Series website, “FR cars stand between F3 and F4; they are designed with a performance middle ground in mind.”
